The Challenger Explosion 30 Years Later

           For years I told people that I actually saw the Challenger explosion when it happened because I was home from school sick that day .  The truth of the matter is I was actually watching the Price is Right which was interrupted by Dan Rather to break the horrible news . Until 9/11 I considered it the biggest news story of my life.

           For the next several hours that day they replayed the tape over and over and over again .  I'll never forget the voice of the guy from mission control, calm as can be, calling it "obviously a major malfunction". He made it sound like it was the engine not starting on a car, and not a billion dollar spacecraft having been blown to bits over the Florida sky.

           For years I knew their names by heart.  They were ingrained into my brain . As years went by,  I had forgotten most of them. To be honest with you the only one I remembered clearly was Christa McAuliffe .  But reading through all of the remembrances today,  the names came back to me .  Dick Scobee, Ronald McNair,Judith Resnick, Michael Smith, Greg Jarvis and Ellison Ozinuka.

            I'm  not one to throw to unequivocal praise on President Reagan the way many conservatives do, but the speech he gave that day, as well as the eulogy he delivered later that week, were quite possibly the most eloquent of his presidency. They called him the great communicator, that week he was the national healer.

            17 years later, almost to the day, the Space Shuttle Columbia blew up on returning from a trip into orbit .  President George W. Bush at the time was ridiculed by many for suggesting that we continue our trips into space .  There were many reasons to criticize George Bush, but I don't believe this was one of them .  Like President Reagan before him President Bush believed that despite the tragic deaths of the astronauts, we should not abandon our space program .

 And we shouldn't .

           The seven that we lost shared one thing in common... their desire to continue the great work that had been started by the astronauts that came before them .  I wasn't alive when Neil Armstrong first stepped  foot on the moon but anybody who was remembers the feeling of unbelievable pride that accompanied that that historic night.  I can't believe that had Christa McAuliffe survived her flight, that she wouldn't of come home and told any kid who dreamed of becoming an astronaut to shelve the dream because it was too dangerous .

            It's hard to believe I can remember something so clearly that happened 30 years ago. It really doesn't seem like it was that long ago .  People my parents age always talk about where they were the day President Kennedy was assassinated .  I  always considered the Challenger explosion to be my Kennedy assassination experience . My mom told me there was nothing that could compare to that day.

  I believe her .  And certainly 9/11 would make the Challenger explosion pale in comparison.

 Still 30 years later, it's something I'll never forget.